Plasma Ion Evolution in the Wake of a High-Intensity Ultrashort Laser Pulse

M. Borghesi (1) , S. V. Bulanov (1, 2) , T. Zh. Esirkepov (2) , S. Fritzler (3) , S. Kar (1) , T.V. Liseikina (4) , Victor Malka (3) , F. Pegoraro (4) , L. Romagnani (1) , Jean-Philippe Rousseau (3) , A. Schiavi (5) , O. Willi (6) , A. V. Zayats (1)

1 school of mathematics and physics
2 MIPT - Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology [Moscow]
3 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
4 University of Pisa and INFM
5 Dipartimento di Energetica
6 Institut für Laser und Plasmaphysik

Experimental investigations of the late-time ion structures formed in the wake of an ultrashort, intense laser pulse propagating in a tenuous plasma have been performed using the proton imaging technique. The pattern found in the wake of the laser pulse shows unexpectedly regular modulations inside a long, finite width channel. On the basis of extensive particle in cell simulations of the plasma evolution in the wake of the pulse, we interpret this pattern as due to ion modulations developed during a two-stream instability excited by the return electric current generated by the wakefield.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; Optics [physics.optics]

M. Borghesi, S. V. Bulanov, T. Zh. Esirkepov, S. Fritzler, S. Kar, et al.. Plasma Ion Evolution in the Wake of a High-Intensity Ultrashort Laser Pulse. Physical Review Letters, 2005, 94 (19), pp.195003. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.195003⟩. ⟨hal-00508616⟩